Photos: America's Best Roadside Attractions

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Nothing says America like a great road trip. And nothing makes the adventure better than running across some of the odd and quirky attractions aimed to lure in motorists.

In La Crosse, Wis., visitors can find the world's largest six pack. The storage tanks for a local brewery have been skillfully pained over the years to represent beer cans. They tanks hold enough beer to fill 7,340,976 cans of beer, or enough booze to provide a person a six pack a day for 3,351 years.

Courtesy La Crosse Area CVB

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Nothing says America like a great road trip. And nothing makes the adventure better than running across some of the odd and quirky attractions aimed to lure in motorists.<p>
In <a href="http://www.explorelacrosse.com/" target="external"> La Crosse, Wis.</a>, visitors can find the world's largest six pack. The storage tanks for a local brewery have been skillfully pained over the years to represent beer cans. They tanks hold enough beer to fill 7,340,976 cans of beer, or enough booze to provide a person a six pack a day for 3,351 years.

Courtesy La Crosse Area CVB

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Chicken Boy was originally part of a fried chicken stand, dating back to the 1960s. But after the stand closed, the statue was moved to the rooftop of Future Studio Design & Gallery on Historic Route 66 in Highland Park, a neighborhood just north of downtown Los Angeles. The 22-foot tall fiberglass man-bird now symbolizes a roadside culture that is fading away.

Handout

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Radiant symbol of a bygone era, when fossil fuel seemed happily inexhaustible, this shell shaped service station in Winston-Salem, N.C. is the last of its kind. Eight were originally built in the late 1930s by the Quality Oil Company, a Winston-based marketer of Shell Oil. The station, modeled on the brand logo of Royal Dutch-Shell Oil, was constructed of concrete stucco over a bent wood and wire framework.

Bill Russ/North Carolina Tourism

America's Best Roadside Attractions

The world's largest peanut monument, located in Ashburn, Ga. was built in February 1975. The peanut is 33 feet high and is made of fiberglass, brick and concrete. Picnic table surround the peanut, so it is an excellent place for travelers to take a break.

Georgia Department of Economic Development

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Sitting in a plaza in Columbia, S.C. is a sculpture that is billed as America's largest fire hydrant. The <a href="http://blueskyart.com/articles-id-4200.htm" target="external">Busted Plug</a> was designed by Blue Sky Gallery, which spent a year designing the project and then 14 months to build. The hydrant is four stories high and weighs 675,000 pounds.

Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism

America's Best Roadside Attractions

Darwin, Minn. is the home of the largest twine ball in the world made by one man, Francis A. Johnson. The twine ball is 13 feet in diameter, 40 feet in circumference and weighs 17,400 pounds. Johnson started his obsession in March of 1950 and wrapped for 4 hours every day for 23 weeks. feet lifted it with a crane to continue proper wrapping as he went along. For 39 years, this magnificent sphere evolved at his farm. Eventually the ball was moved to a circular open air shed on his front lawn. When he died in 1989, the city of Darwin moved the ball onto a special city lot.

Explore Minnesota Tourism

America's Best Roadside Attractions

The Launching Pad Drive-In along Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill. serves up plenty of hot dogs and ice cream, but it is probably best known for the its 1950s Gemini Giant, a massive space aged statue worthy of a posed souvenir photo.

Springfield CVB

America's Strangest Roadside Attractions

If you have ever driven along Interstate 95 on either side of the North and South Carolina border, you've seen the colorful billboards counting down the miles to South of the Border. The cheesy billboard slogans match the kitschy Mexican-themed shops, restaurants and attractions at this tourist mecca. Pedro's giant sombrero serves as a beacon to travelers who stop for the massive fireworks shop, the small amusement park or to pick up their very own sombrero at this roadside attraction in Dillon, SC.

Courtesy South of the Border

America's Strangest Roadside Attractions

Located off Interstate 85 near Gaffney, SC, this giant peach is actually a functional water tower. The Gaffney Board of Public Works built the "peachoid" in 1979 to honor one of South Carolina's most important agricultural products. Most people think of Georgia when they think of peaches, but South Carolina actually produces one and half times as many peaches as their southern neighbor.

Courtesy Gaffney, SC Board of Public Works

America's Strangest Roadside Attractions

The city of <a href="http://www.metropolischamber.com/" target="external">Metropolis, Ill.</a> has called itself the "Home of Superman" for nearly 40 years. Visitors to Metropolis will find no shortage of Superman memorabilia, souvenirs and other Superman mentions. Several street names have been changed to a Superman theme, such as Superman Square and Lois Lane and even the city's weekly newspaper is called the Metropolis Planet. Standing tall over the Metropolis business district is a bronze statue of none other than Superman himself -- 15 feet and 4,000 pounds of metal muscle.

Courtesy Metropolis Tourism

Roadside

In the <a href="http://www.thehenryford.org/" target="external">Henry Ford Museum</a> in Dearborn, Mich., there is an exhibit on the Automobile in American Life that includes a 26-foot-tall neon sign that was installed in August 1960 at the second McDonald's franchise in the state of Michigan. While it might no longer be on the side of the road, it is one of the nation's most-recognizable signs.

Henry Ford Museum

Roadside

Route 66 used to embody the cross-country trip. Today it is far from its glory days but there are still plenty of landmarks along the route. Catoosa, Okla., is home to the Blue Whale, part of a former water park that now remains as a popular landmark and a place to stop and at least stretch your legs.

Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department

Roadside

The <a href="http://www.uniroyaltires.com/about/gianttire.html" target="external">Uniroyal Giant Tire</a> was originally created as a Ferris wheel attraction at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. More than two million people rode the Giant Tire Ferris wheel during the fair, including Jacqueline Kennedy and her children, John Jr. and Caroline. After the fair, the Giant Tire was relocated to a Uniroyal Tire sales office in Allen Park, Mich., and has towered alongside I-94 near the Metro Airport ever since. In 1994, the Giant Tire received a facelift to give it a sleeker, more modern look. Neon lighting and a new hubcap were added to the tire's body.

Travel Michigan

Roadside

A drive through Sparta, Wis., might seem like a trip back in time thanks to "Ben Bikin." That's the name of an oversized, 32-foot-tall sculpture of a Gay Nineties cyclist riding an old-school bike.

Wisconsin Department of Tourism

Roadside

The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, features 10 Cadillacs buried nose down in field at same angle as Cheops' pyramids. They represent the golden age of automobiles from 1949 through 1963.

Courtesy Melba Knowles

Roadside

Near Murdo, S.D., travelers can find the dinosaur skeleton sculpture, quite simply a sculpture of a dinosaur skeleton being walked on a leash. It is right near the <a href="http://www.1880town.com/ " target="external">1880 Town</a>, basically a town right off the interstate made to look like it is in the late 19th century. Granted, they still didn't have dinosaurs back then.

South Dakota Office of Tourism

Roadside

Miles the Monster is the iconic statue of Dover International Speedway in Delaware. He is a replica of the trophy that NASCAR drivers receive when they win in Dover and one of the largest fiberglass statues in the world.

Kent County Tourism

Roadside

The <a href="http://www.sluggermuseum.org/" target="external">Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory</a> in Louisville, Ky., includes a bat used by Joe DiMaggio during his 56-game hitting streak of 1941 along with a special area where visitors can hold game-used bats from superstars -- past and present. There's even one of the bats used by Babe Ruth during his 60-home-run season of 1927. But the fun starts outside with a 68,000-pound, 120-foot tall steel bat that's a replica -- a very large replica -- of Babe Ruth's 34-inch Louisville Slugger.

Kentucky Department of Travel

Roadside

In Cut Bank, Mont., sits a 27-foot tall penguin made out of 10,000 pounds of concrete. The penguin was built in 1989 to mark Cut Bank as the coldest town in the United States. Many people traveling to and from Glacier National Park stop through Cut Bank en route to meet the "World's Largest Penguin."

Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission

Roadside

Stanton, Iowa, is home to Virginia Christine, better known as "Mrs. Olson" of the Folgers' coffee commercial fame. She returned to town to serve as the parade grand marshal for the centennial celebration in 1970. Stanton celebrated the connection, along with its own Scandinavian coffee roots, with a 120-foot Coffee Pot Water Tower erected in 1971. The "Swedish-style" pot, painted with decorative hearts and flowers, holds 40,000 gallons of water (that's 640,000 cups of coffee).

Iowa Tourism Office

Roadside

The <a href="http://www.freshwater-fishing.org/" target="external">Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum</a> in Hayward, Wis., is a great site for any fisherman, but the real highlight of this museum is the "Shrine to the Anglers." The shrine sits inside the world's largest fish -- a fearsome muskie. It is more than four stories tall and as long as a Boeing 757. In the head, an observation platform offers up to 20 people at a time a view out over the whole complex.

Wisconsin Department of Tourism

Roadside

Albert the Bull in Audubon, Iowa, is the world's largest bull. It was constructed in 1964, weighs 45 tons, stands 30 feet tall and spans 15 feet from horn to horn.

Iowa Tourism Office

Roadside

<a href="http://www.lucytheelephant.org/" target="external">Lucy the Elephant</a>, in Margate, N.J., is one of the nation's oldest roadside attractions. The six-story high wooden elephant outside of Atlantic City was originally built in 1881 to encourage real-estate investment on the Jersey Shore. Over the years, Lucy has served as a restaurant, business office, cottage and tavern. She was nearly torn down but a "Save Lucy" campaign in 1970 saved her, and six years later the attraction received National Historic Landmark designation. Today, for $6, you can tour this historic elephant.

Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority

Roadside

Meet Chomsky, the <a href="http://www.homegrownminigolf.com/Meet_Chomsky.html" target="external">world's largest garden gnome</a> at Kelder's Farm in Kerhonkson, N.Y. The gnome is more than 13 feet tall and sits on a Hudson River Valley farm that also includes a unique mini-golf course landscaped entirely with fruit, veggies, herbs and grains.

Ulster County Tourism

Roadside

The world's largest shoe house (who knew there were such categories) in Hellam, Pa., was originally built in 1948 as an extravagant advertising gimmick by a shoe salesman. This 25-foot-tall, 48-foot-long oversized footwear got a rehab the other year thanks to <a href="http://www.hamptonlandmarks.com/" target="external">Hampton Hotels' Save-A-Landmark program</a>. The hotel chain contributed a grant of almost $20,000 and nearly 30 volunteers from local hotel properties worked to repair the boot's stained glass windows and clean, prime and paint the house from heel to toe.

Hampton Inn

Roadside

In the early fall of 1937, the Paul Bunyan Carnival was organized in Bemidji, Minn. A local construction company was delegated to build a statue of Paul Bunyan and the local rotary club was asked to build a statue of Babe, the Blue Ox. Earl Bucklen, mayor of Bemidji at the time, was used as a model for Bunyan, except all measurements were scaled up three-to-one. The 18-foot Bunyan statue sits on five and a half tons of concrete supports and weights another two and a half tons itself. The ox's horns, made of tin, are 14 feet across.

Explore Minnesota

Roadside

Head to Tulsa, Okla., to find a relic of the West's oil boom. The Golden Driller Statue was introduced by the Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth in 1953 at the International Petroleum Exposition. It showed up again for a show in 1959 and was so popular that the company donated it to the local fairgrounds. It now sits at 21st Street and Pittsburg Avenue, the site of the 1966 exposition. The driller's right hand rests on an old production oil derrick moved from an oil field in Seminole, Okla.

Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department

Roadside

The Big Duck, a Long Island, N.Y., landmark for generations, is surely one of the oddest shaped buildings we've ever seen. The ingenious advertising gimmick dates back to 1931 when a local duck farmer built the 20-foot-tall structure, putting concrete over a wood frame. He sold ducks and eggs from the shop. Today, the Big Duck, in Flanders, N.Y., isn't selling ducks anymore but still is a favorite attraction.

Long Island CVB & Sports Commission

Roadside

The world's only Corn Palace is in Mitchell, S.D. What else do you need to know? This building's exterior is decorated in murals completely constructed out of local corn, grains and grasses.

South Dakota Office of Tourism

Roadside

John Milkovisch, a retired upholsterer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, started his project now known as the <a href="http://www.beercanhouse.org/" target="external">Beer Can House</a> in 1968 when he began inlaying thousands of marbles, rocks, and metal pieces into concrete and redwood to form unique landscaping features. The house in Houston is now open to the public. Admission is $1 with tours costing $5.